Well, the post title has certainly said it all, hasn’t it? I’m still in KL.. trying to avoid all the madness that is the Balik Kampung Raya exodus (don’t you just love that word?). Anyway, I will be taking a week hiatus from updating this blog.
But before I leave, here’s Episode 6 of Survivor : Cook Islands
Don’t worry about me not updating, because apparently, the Survivor show will be taking a hiatus from its regular programming too this week. They’ll be airing a recap episode next week. There’s usually nothing of interest in these recap episodes. However, they usually run these the week before the merge episode.. but we still have 13 people left in the game. I dunno.. maybe we’re looking at an early merge this season. Who knows.
Anyway, before I leave I would just like to tell all of you that you should go watch The Prestige. Seriously. Go.Watch.The.Prestige. You know it’s only a matter of days before you get bored of the Hari Raya break, so if you feel like giving you a treat, go watch this film.
This movie has officially toppled off V for Vendetta as my Number One movie of the year. I wasn’t expecting it. In a nutshell, without giving too much away, the movie is set before the turn of the 20th century in Victorian England. It tells a tale of two magicians at work.. who started out as friends, and became rivals. The cast is spectacular.. Christian Bale (need I give you more names?), Hugh Jackman, Michael Caine and Scarlett Johanssen. And, like the movie’s tagline itself.. “Are you watching closely?”… if you are, you will see David Bowie and Andy Serkis (aka Gollum) in the movie too.
The director is Christopher Nolan, the same guy who brought you Batman Begins, and more importantly Momento.. the ultimate mind bending movie that was unfortunately banned by the fucking dumbasses at our Censorship Board. (If you haven’t seen Momento, there’s no other thing to say but… you have to watch it). If you are a fan of these two highly acclaimed Nolan movies, you will NOT be disappointed by The Prestige. If you only go to the cinema once a year, go watch The Prestige. Seriously, it is THAT good.
They say that the book it is based on can be quite complex. If it is, then it’s a testament as to how brilliant Christopher Nolan is as a director, because the flow of the movie makes it easy for the viewers to follow without having a headache. Excellent movie. It’s rivetting all the way to the end.
As such, the following are now my Top 5 non-porno Movie of 2006
1. The Prestige
2. V for Vendetta
3. Cars
4. Dorm
5. The Devil Wears Prada
Anyway, have a great week ahead of you guys. Happy holidays.. and be prepared for NaNoWriMo 2006 !!!
A little tangent from my usual Survivor ramblings before I begin, a little vent on a certain Mix.fm DJ who keeps shoving everything British down our throats everyday (If it’s not about English soccer, it’s about Manchester United. If it’s not about Manchester United, it’s David Beckham. If it’s not about David Beckham, it’s about the anorexic bitch wife Victoria. If it’s not about Victoria, it’s about the Spice Girls. If it’s not about the Spice Girls, it’s some idiotic Robbie Williams trivia.) While I GET that the wanker’s a fanatic of everything English, his need to at least mention this every single fucking time he’s on the radio is enough to make me tune out of the station during my daily car ride home from work. Yeah you MUST know who I’m talking about. Dude, I have lived in England for three years, and even I can’t fucking stand all these English stuff being shoved down my throat.every.single.fucking.time. Don’t get me wrong, I love England.. but this is just too much. He comes across as trying to hard in proving he knows everything there is to know about England. Tosser. I just want to listen to some music. And I won’t even mind if he plays REAL music from England, like the Stereophonics and the Manic Street Preachers.. but oh no… he only plays ‘English’ music like Coldplay and Robbie frickin Williams.. you know, generic ‘music’ (aka shit) that has been accepted by the States. That’s not real English music. I will gladly munch on my own pubes the day he does not make a single reference to anything British during his segment on the air. BUT I do, however, would like to thank him for playing one of my favorite songs ever last week (I had almost forgotten all about this song.. this was Greenday at their best). I can’t help but wish it was the DJ’s swansong.
Greenday’s Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
Wow.. we’re only into Episode 5. It seems like this season has been going on for ages. Maybe because they started out with 4 tribes and 20 people, and so far, there has been no double eliminations (For Survivor Palau, they had 20 people but they removed 3 people off the bat, and had a double-elimination episode). 5 episodes down and we still have 15 people on the show. Wow. But it’s all good, though, cause it kinda gives us time to get to know each of the contestants a little bit more.
Rarotonga Tribe
It’s a little bit funny watching the guys (Brad, Nate and Adam) getting off their asses and actually working at camp. I guess they didn’t want to suffer the same fate as JP who got voted off last week after being perceived as lazy and bossy. I still don’t like Parvati that much. The seductive slut style just doesn’t bode well for me, but I honestly think Parvati is the one sitting most comfortably and most secure on this tribe. Jenny is clearly emerging as the one strategizing the most on Raro, but she’s doing it subtly and quietly. Rebecca doesn’t register anything with me.. she’s just a filler. The same with Stephannie, who was downright invisible until after the immunity challenge. Cristina, I don’t know. Maybe a little of JP had rubbed off on her cause she was seen as bossy and domineering this time around. AND she was shown sitting comfortably in JP’s throne. That can’t be good, can it? Anyway, the Raro tribe kinda reminds me of the Pagong tribe (from Borneo) and Kucha (from Outback) - the fun loving, happy go lucky tribe that everyone wants to be a part of, but in the end, that’s all there is to them. Pure show fillers. I doubt the winner will emerge from this tribe, but I could be wrong.
Aitutaki Tribe
You can’t see the fun, but you can definitely see the strategies brewing on this island. I feel dirty watching everytime I watch Ozzy on screen. It doesn’t help that his pubic region was blurred out in this episode. Yuck. Flicka is still annoying, but surprisingly she proves that she’s an asset in the challenges. Cao Boi, well what can I say. If you open a pictionary and turn to the “Annoying Fuck” entry, Cao Boi’s face would probably be next to it. So the trio decides to row over to the next island cause they’ve ‘exhausted’ their island. And stumbles across the Raro tribe (who were SO not pleased). I laughed at the fact that one of the Raro’s commented “Oh look. It’s the other tribe… and it’s the three people that we can’t stand the most”.. haha.. they must’ve read my mind. Don’t these idiots understand that they’re not wanted there? Sheesh. Anyway, they couldn’t have been more blatant in trying to form an alliance of 3 with their short boating trip. Which leaves Candice, Yul and Becky (and Jonathan) to solidify their alliance, AND at the same time, bring Sundra into their fold. I will be surprised if the alliance doesn’t hold. I seriously think at least 3 of these folks will make it to the Final Four. I still have my money on Candice winning the whole she-bang.
Challenges
The reward challenge is time tested, all the way from the Outback season. The only twist this time around is they are paired up. This clip, obviously made it to the MANLOVE thread over at Sucks, much to everyone’s delight.
Aitu disappointed me cause I thought they had stronger people on their team. But Nate and Adam proved that they were powerhouses and helped their team win the reward challenge of spices and booze. As for the immunity challenge, well it was interesting to say the least. The Raros were leading ahead of Aitu, but in the end Aitu proved that they had brains to overcome Raro’s brawls. Winning the challenge was tricky, to have everyone be physically above the top pedestal, and they pulled it off, because the Aitus clearly thought it through. A really well deserved immunity win.
Exile Island
Much to my surprise, it was pretty smart of Adam (ironically dubbed as A-dumb by Sucksters) to suggest that they keep the same three people who’ve been exiled (Yul, Jonathan and Candice) to be chosen again. The strategy behind that is to narrow the number of people who has a possibility of getting the hidden immunity idol (and therefore, easier to eliminate through the ‘backdoor’ method as we shall see next week). And this time, Jonathan’s the lucky guy. We were shown Jonathan’s attempt of finding the immunity idol, and he even made a comment that if the hidden immunity idol was there, it’s not there anymore, implying it already has been found. So, will the hidden immunity idol be forced into play soon? We shall see. If I was Yul, I might be pissing in my pants right now. Don’t you think it would be funny if he had replaced the hidden immunity idol with some sort of stone of stuff to make it appear as the idol? Imagine someone finding the fake idol and presenting it to Jeff at Tribal Council. “I’ve got the hidden immunity idol, Jeff”. “Umm.. that’s not the hidden immunity idol”. “%#&*!@%&#%!&”.
Tribal Council
I was really hoping Cristina would get the boot, cause I think that would just be hilarious.. seeing the original Aitutaki being voted off one by one… Billy - Cecilia - JP … BUT stupid bitch Stephannie just had to open her goddamn mouth and talk about ‘tasting mashed potatoes and gravies tonight’. Goddamn, woman. Why would you say things like that? Even if you don’t mean it, don’t say it. It shows that mentally you have quit the game. AND Nate is such an asshole for being a snitch and a fake. He’s all like.. Hiki love.. I got your back bla bla bullshit. I mean, grow a pair, asshole. In any case, I’m kinda glad Stephennie got voted out, cause she’s already mentally checked out of the game a few days earlier and she’s basically just living on the island on borrowed time. That said, I think Cristina is walking on thin ice, and could easily be the next one to go from Raro. Here’s looking forward to a double boot next week.
While our local tv station has forsaken us with crappy reality shows like Cornetto Love Perhaps (which my cousin has the unfortunate task of editing) and Calon Keluarga (yeah, the title had me rolling.. I really might tune in to watch this trainwreck) and really backdated shows like So You Think You Can Dance and The Apprentice, there are so many good shows around right now since the new television season has just started in the States. So much so that I’ve got a headache trying to keep up with my torrent scheduling (I swear I need to buy a dedicated server for this). While I’m not saying this is the right thing to do, but if iTunes would allow payments from Malaysia, I would gladly pay for these episodes.. and if our local TV stations really know what the viewers want, we won’t have to resort to this.. so I blame them.
A lot of my friends ask why I don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy and Prison Break (seems like two very popular tv shows with our local viewers). I’m not going to diss these two shows, but I’ve never liked any of the hospital drama shows (ie. ER, Chicago Hope, House MD even the comedy Scrubs) and the same can be said for all the courtroom drama (ie. Ally McBeal, Judging Amy, Boston Legal, The Practice). I avoid these shows at all cost. I don’t know why, but I just do. As for Prison Break. It’s overrated. If you’ve seen the HBO drama Oz, Prison Break is comedy compared to Oz. ‘Nuff said.
Until the new American Idol and The Apprentice comes back on TV next January, the following are the tv shows that are lined up in my torrent schedule.
Season 1 - Episode 1 Sep 25th
Season 1 - Episode 2 Oct 2nd
A new drama focusing on ordinary people from all walks of life who discovers that they have supernatural powers and who all will come together to fulfil their destiny. Sounds cheesy? You’re damn right it’s cheesy butI love it. It’s like a cheap knock off of the X-Men series but who can get enough of live action X-Men? Not me. I wasn’t thoroughly impressed with the premier, but the second episode piqued my interest. I have faith in this show and they’ve just ordered a full season of this show.. so that’s good news!
Season 1 - Episode 1 Sep 20th
Season 1 - Episode 2 Sep 27th
Season 1 - Episode 3 Oct 4th
Another new drama focusing on a post-apocalyptic setting. Residents of small town Jericho just a few miles out of Denver, Colorado struggle to stay alive after it’s been suspected that major cities are being destroyed. By whom and how? Those are still a mystery. The whole premise of the show is akin to Stephen King’s The Stand after an entire nation is wiped out by a virus (seriously.. the best fiction ever written in the history of the universe). And the show also have sub plots of the relationships between the townsfolk that makes it much more interesting.
Lost (ABC Wednesdays 9pm)
Season 3 - Episode 1 Oct 4th
What can I say.. some people hated how Season Two went. I personally loved it. Libby’s and Ana Lucia’s death was a true WHATINHOLYFUCKWASTHAT moment. I knew about Sharon’s death in advance, but the double death of the two Tailies. WOW. I wonder which character they’re gonna kill this season. I can’t help but wish if they really had to kill a character, it better be Charlie or Claire or that smug bastard Jack. Why does he need to feel angry all the time? Anyway, the season premier was good. If you’re looking for immediate answers, you’re better off watching some other programs. I’m excited that The Others will be prominent in this season’s storyline. And ps. we haven’t quite heard the last of Libby yet.
Season 13 - Episode 1 Sep 14th
Season 13 - Episode 2 Sep 21st
Season 13 - Episode 3 Sep 28th
Season 13 - Episode 4 Oct 5th (Episode download link: http://www.yousendit.com/download/lyDmJaSPYZc%3D)
Four episodes in, and so far, I am still enjoying it. The racial divide doesn’t really mean shit. If they’re sticking by their ‘race’, it’s only appropriate because (if anyone’s thinking clearly) they are from the same survivor tribe. And that’s all there is to it. If Mark Burnett would’ve wanted to really play the race card.. he would’ve split the teams evenly (one race in their respective multi-racial tribes). I’m too lazy to write a recap this week (I might post a review later this week).. but I’m still sticking to Candice as this season’s ultimate Survivor. Supernatural (CW Thursdays 9pm)
Season 2 - Episode 1 Sep 28th
Season 2 - Episode 2 Oct 5th
The first season just ended on AXN with a rather ‘dead’ cliffhanger. Viewers will be happy to know that the three survived the crash.. barely. But there are surprising twists in the season premier which I shall not spoil right here. Not quite sure where the show is heading right now, but they’re still hunting down supernatural stuff. Well, it’s a decent replacement for Charmed.
Season 3 - Episode 1 Oct 5th
OHMIGAWD the second most anticipated show debut of the season. I have practically memorized all the crude jokes and reference from the first two seasons of this show. South Park has been banned here for it being unpolitically correct.. but Drawn Together is a thousand times worse. It pokes fun at everyone and everything, and most importantly, reality shows. The cartoon is a spoof on Big Brother, but they are replaced by
* Captain Hero - A chauvinistic, perverted and lecherous parody of Superman (and other superheroes), with a visual style taken from the cartoons of Bruce Timm and Max Fleischer. Among reality TV archetypes, he represents the macho egotist.
* Princess Clara - A pampered, hyper-religious, and racist princess who is a parody of Disney princesses like Ariel from The Little Mermaid and Belle from Beauty and the Beast. She represents the naive daddy’s girl.
* Ling-Ling - A homicidal spoof of Pikachu from the Pokémon franchise, who battles using various supernatural powers/abilities (reminiscent of anime) and speaks in pseudo-Japanese gibberish (or ‘Japorean’, as Ling-Ling’s voice Abbey McBride calls it) with English subtitles. He represents the culture shocked foreigner.
* Foxxy Love - A sharp-tongued parody of Valerie Brown from Josie and the Pussycats, she is a promiscuous mystery-solving musician. She represents the sassy black woman.
* Spanky Ham - A sex-obsessed, obnoxious parody of Internet Flash cartoon characters. He represents the crude party animal.
* Xandir P. Wifflebottom - A homosexual parody of video game heroes like Link from the The Legend of Zelda series. He represents the token gay participant.
* Toot Braunstein - An overweight sex symbol from the 1920s who demands to be the center of attention, cuts herself with razor blades when depressed, and often instigates conflict in the house. Based on Betty Boop. She represents the bitch.
* Wooldoor Sockbat - A bizarre children’s show character in the mold of SpongeBob SquarePants or Stimpy, with many of the typical reality-defying behaviors of Looney Tunes characters. He represents the attention-starved weirdo.
With a cast like that, how can you NOT watch this show??!!?!??!?!?!! This is the best cartoon show that have and never will reach our shores. I might post links to the episodes soon, cause it’s just too good for anyone to miss.
Season 10 - Episode 1 Sep 17th
Season 10 - Episode 2 Sep 24th
Season 10 - Episode 3 Oct 1st
Season 10 - Episode 4 Oct 8th
Thank goodness for AXN, this is the only show that’s worth watching and is actually shown on TV and therefore eliminating the need for me to download. This season seems a bit different. Nobody stands out as villains or assholes. You can kinda tell that the racers ‘enjoy’ each other’s company. The Whatevia moms/Country bumpkins/Asian Cho Bros/Gay T&T are the best alliance ever! Looking forward to the show tonight. And have you guys seen the cast of the new Asian Edition of the Amazing Race? Can I just say fugliest.cast.ever? Can you notice my extreme jealousy of not getting on to the show?
Season 3 - Episode 1 Sep 24th
Season 3 - Episode 2 Oct 1st
Season 3 - Episode 3 Oct 8th
Recapping on the previous season, can I just say that Season 2 majorly sucked donkey balls? The only interesting thing going on there was the whole Bree vs Andrew fiasco. And thinking back about the Applebys.. goddammit. What a waste of space. Thank God they are off the show. Watching the third season now.. I am getting more and more frustrated. When will they just kill off Susan’s character? Possibly the most mind numbing, sentimental, idiotic bitch to ever rival that of Ally McBeal’s character. The writer is going nowhere with her storyline.. she gets caught up in love with guys.. go back and forth with Mike.. it’s the kind of high school crap that nobody gives a goddamn shit like that of Ross and Rachel, only Ross and Rachel are at least funny. Fuck you Susan Myers. Gabby leaves the viewers no sympathy. And man, seriously Marc Cherry.. you need to find some fucking good materials for the show. Bree getting married to the wrong guy? Another mysterious killer in town? For fucks sake.. are you ever gonna stop rehashing these goddamn storylines. Fuckers! Talk about lazy writers (yeah I’m one to talk.. but seriously). The only reason I’m watching this show still is because of Lynette and Tom. Excellent acting and at least their storyline is not getting old. Oh and I’m also watching this because of Nicolette Sheridan too.
Season 1 - Episode 1 Sep 24th
Season 1 - Episode 2 Oct 1st
Season 1 - Episode 3 Oct 8th
Okay, so I haven’t watched this show.. but I will soon. The synopsis seems pretty interesting and so far, people have been giving good feedbacks.. so why not. I’m getting an adult version of Party of Five vibes from this show. The synopsis of the show : Told through the viewpoint of Kitty Walker (Calista Flockhart), a group of siblings with complicated lives takes a dramatic turn on the eve of Kitty’s birthday. As the series unfolds, shocking family secrets will be uncovered along the way.
How pathetic am I that the one-minute mention that I got from the Armchair Survivor podcast is one of my highlights this year (along with being interviewed by colllege students for their English Literature thesis and being appointed as the Malaysia correspondant for a regional Fine Dining magazine). I know, it’s rather menial if you think about it.. but I’m really glad Michael kinda dissed our local tv station for fucking around with the Survivor schedule. Yay!
Anyway, are there any more sexier words than the three that were uttered by Jeff Probst in the last episode? Drop.Your.Buffs. (I really hope there’s going to be a merge buff later on.. woohoo! 5 new Survivor buffs to add to my collection!) Yessir, it’s that time of the season again, when the tribes are whittled down from 4 tribes to 2 tribes. It’s pretty expected, given that the 4 tribes from Exile Islands ‘merged’ into 2 around this time last season too.
The choosing of the new tribes were quite interesting. Possibly the most interesting pick-em ever done on the show. 4 leaders were chosen, Jonathan and Brad for the men, and Cecilia and Pavarti for the women. They then alternately choose members NOT from their old tribes, so that all the teams are integrated. Each of the men-women teams then joined to form 2 nine person teams.
Let me FIRST say, that I do NOT think the race issue will have any impact at all on this season and how future alliances is gonna fan out now that the tribes are merged. If anything, they will be voting along their original tribal lines, and not necessarily based on their ethnicities.
The breakdown of the new tribe : 2 Whites, 2 Asians, 3 Blacks, 2 Latinos.
Am I liking the new tribe? I can’t tell for sure. Was is any surprise that Brad immediately picked JP for his team? Obviously not. That made me snicker a bit and confirmed whatever iota that left for those still wondering which team he plays on. From the losing team into the majority in this group, Nathan, Rebecca and Stephennie should count their blessings. If things go well, I would have a hard time finding any of these three going home anytime soon, ALTHOUGH the other three team wise up and join forces to get rid of this majority (which is a distinct possibility). Cristina and Jenny seems to be on their own. They might find solace in each other’s company given their age range (and together with Stephennie too). Parvati.. that slut Parvati. Can she make her flirting any more obvious? She said that she always had that connection with Adam (somehow I don’t think that connection is reciprocated), and I was laughing my ass off when Nate simply dismissed her coming on to him. And good luck to Parvati flirting with the two lovebirds (Brad and JP). Dude, this girl has no ammo. She’s fucking toast. Karma is a bizzle? It sure is… poor Adam was thrown back to his old camp which they had to rebuild. That’s karma for you for being such a lazy ass, you moron.
Autituki tribe :
Flicka, Cao Boi, Ozzy, Sundra, Candice, Becky, Yul, Cecilia, Jonathan
The breakdown of the new tribe : 3 Whites, 3 Asians, 1 Black, 2 Latinos.
A lot of interesting dynamics going on at Aitu camp, possibly because they were heading to tribal council. Yul disclosed to his tight ally, Becky that he found the immunity idol. Smart move or dumb move? That’s still for us to find out, although if I had found the idol, I will never ever let anyone know. I found it pretty amazing that Cao Boi quickly dissipated to the other tribemates, as did Flicka. You’d think they would’ve figured it by now that Survivor is a game of numbers. They had that luxury and they were willing to give it up? As such, I do not want to see either Cao Boi or Flicka or any of the Hispanic tribe members winning this game. “I am here for the adventure” my ass. Please, no more Gabe players. These people are in the game to win a million dollars, and if that’s not what they’re there for, they should get booted out of the game. Sheesh! In the eternal words of the magnificent Shii Ann Huang “Stupid, stupid people!”. Sundra was a non-entity in this episode. Ozzy and Cecilia overconfidently thinks they are able to control the vote. Survivor is a game of numbers. You threw that luxury away. Karma is a bizzle.
The challenge and Exile Island :
The challenge is a rehash of one of the more interesting immunity challenges from Survivor Palau. I think the one in Palau took several hours, and this one lasted a whole lot shorter. Aitu’s original plan was to let go of all their women and move forward fast with all the men to catch up with Raro, but the plan backfired and slowed them down. The purpose of this challenge is to tackle one of your opponents down, so it bewilders me greatly as to why Jonathan/Ozzy/CaoBoi kept on going forward when Raro team have caught up with them, instead of standing their grounds like Yul and tackle one of them down. Stupidity? I think so too. So Rora won the challenge.. and as another twist, they get to choose someone from Aitu to be exiled (but also at the same time, sparing her from tribal council)… and who did they uninamously agree to send to Exile Island? CANDICE! They claimed it was because Candice is perceived to be their weakest link. Brilliant move, I must say because (1) Candice MIGHT be the weakest member on Aitu (2) Candice doesn’t look like the person who would find the hidden immunity idol (3) Candice is in the ‘majority’ of the Aitu tribe and they would lose one guaranteed vote. So buh-bye Candice. Poor Candice thinks the people on Raro were looking out for her by sending her to Exile Island and sparing her from Tribal Council, but little does she know the real reason she was chosen.
Tribal Council :
Prior to the challenge, Yul/Becky/Jonathan/Candice had an alliance of four and Flicka strung along as the fifth. When Candice was exiled, they were down in numbers. That and fucking Flicka was flipping back and forth with the CaoBoi/Sundra/Ozzy/Cecilia alliance and was being way too wishy washy for my liking. Goddamn bitch I hate her. I hope she gets Dolly-ed soon. It was then settled that it was going to be Flicka/CaoBoi/Sundra/Ozzy/Cecilia voting for Becky, while Yul/Becky/Jonathan voting for Cecilia. I have to give major props to Jonathan and Yul for working hard on CaoBoi and Flicka to have their votes.. and miraculously it worked. The votes against Cecilia were 5-3. Why Cecilia? Why not. Survivor is a game of numbers, and at this stage, you need it more badly than anything. Sundra was a lone ranger. Ozzy had an ally in Cecilia and it was definitely the right boot. Cut the ties before an uprising starts. Plus, you’re hot, Cece, but Karma is a bizzle and you shouldn’t have gone thrown that challenge last week.
I can’t wait for a double boot to happen. If I had my ways, I would throw this people off the island pronto : Cao Boi, Flicka, Ozzy, JP, Parvati, Adam. AND before I sign off.. a little something I would like to share with you guys. Here are some photochops taken off from Sucks (credits to smokeitgood and smashbox).
